Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, Acts 4:12.
My wife and I hope that our Blog may be used as a tool to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ. We desire to minister His message of salvation to anyone who is willing to hear us. We believe His free gift of salvation is available to all, and we invite whosoever will to come and take freely of the water of life, Revelation 22:17.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Genesis Chapter Eleven, Part 2

11:4 whose top may reach unto heaven
In the King James or New King James versions of the Bible the words “may reach” are italicized. This indicates that those two words were not in the original Hebrew text. The verse then reads: “whose top heaven.” Many skeptics have ridiculed this passage for its apparent foolishness. “Were they trying to build a tower all the way to Heaven?” No; they weren’t. They were building the tower, in fact, to worship the host of heaven in the form of astrology. This chapter of Genesis bears the origins of modern (and ancient) astrology. The tower as described in verse 3 was a ziggurat. These pyramidic structures permeated the ancient world from Egypt to Peru, and all bear uncanny resemblance one to another. Archeologists have studied these ziggurats extensively and discovered the signs of the Zodiac engraved atop many.
What God meant for signs in the form of seasons, months and years (Genesis 1:14) man changed into a complicated system of forecasting the future and telling man’s fate. God, who created the stars and the cosmos, was deliberately forgotten as mankind worshiped and served the creature over the Creator, Romans 1:25. The very premise of astrology was flawed from the first for other reasons. Astrology assumed the sun (and the universe) circled the earth: this was called the Geocentric Theory. Deductions according to the alignment of the stars were made in such a fashion. But this theory has long since been discredited since the earth revolves around the sun; thusly astrology’s “readings” have been inherently flawed from the first.

The Bible condemns astrology in no uncertain terms. “Thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations. There shall not be found among you any one that [is]…an observer of the times….for all that do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee,” Deuteronomy 18:9-10, 12. “Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the ways of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them,” Jeremiah 10:2. The heavens were not meant to reveal the future to men, but to reveal the glory of God, Psalm 19:1. The eternal destinies of the saints are ordered not by the stars, but by God, Psalm 37:23.

The city was built to house the present global population in open antagonism to God’s revealed will of going out to subdue the earth, Genesis 9:1. The tower was erected to substitute the worship of the true God of heaven and earth with a false religious system that gave man, not God, the reins of control. This is why in Revelation we read of Babylon as being the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth, Revelation 17:5. The word “mystery” precedes Babylon’s name; perhaps signifying the initiation neophytes or acolytes would need when coming to learn this new religion; the revealing of secret knowledge. It is clear that Babel was the seat of idolatry after the Flood; and from its ruin came the false religions and mystery cults of both ancient and modern times. The prophet Zechariah saw a woman named Wickedness thrust down into a container that was then promptly carried to Shinar (Babylon) where it would be established and set on its base, Zechariah 5:5-11. The Mother of Harlots later seen by John in his vision of the end-times was also a woman, whose time had apparently come.

There is much more to say regarding the visions of Zechariah and John; and God willing we’ll attend those in due time. For now let us sum up and say that modern idolatry has its roots in Babel; there is no religious system present today that could not be traced back to Babel: it is the mother of ALL abominations of the earth: aka false religions, which God finds abominable. Why a woman? In the Old Testament idolatrous Israel is seen as a promiscuous woman chasing her paramours. The essence of idolatry is symbolized then by adultery; spiritual adultery toward the one true God. Is Rome typified by that vision of John’s? We’ll also attend that question at a later date, the Lord willing.

11:4 and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
Look back at verse 1 again. The whole earth was of one speech, that is, one mind to accomplish their goals. We see how that one speech was solidified in this single statement. The people wished to rebel against God’s simple command to spread across the earth and fill it. The word “name” in Hebrew can mean “renown or fame.” When someone calls on the name of the Lord they are praising God; in this instance the people wanted to make a name for them that would apparently blot out God’s renown. Their goal was to prevent being scattered abroad, effectively defying God’s command. Long after the time of Babel the psalmist would write: “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us,” Psalm 2:1-3.

How does the Lord respond? “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision,” Psalm 2:4. No counsel can stand against the Lord, and even the wrath of man shall be made to praise Him, Psalm 76:10. This deliberate effort reveals not only the hardened heart of the people, but the proud heart of their leader, Nimrod. This arrogant hunter was certainly a type of Antichrist. The bow tends to personify the hunter in the Old Testament, as in the cases of Ishmael (Genesis 21:20) and Esau (Genesis 25:27). The last to carry the bow of the hunter will be that great deceiver, the Antichrist, Revelation 6:2.

11:6 and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
The NKJV translates this verse: “now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.” The NKJV follows a very literal reading at this point. Man has a bent toward evil. God is saying that everything man could conceive of, working as one, he could accomplish. The implications of the verse are dire; God’s curse of tongues fulfilled His command to fill the earth, but it was also apparently for our good as a race. Coming together as one, we would rush to complete and realize our every ambition, unfettered by the restraining Spirit of God. The Hebrew word “restrained” which is “basar,” can mean “to humble, break (the spirit), or be thwarted.” A united people who have shrugged off God in their morality, industry, religion and learning will soon shrug off every inhibition that hinders the satisfaction of our wicked hearts. The United States is swiftly becoming a mirror of this verse’s accomplishment as we kill our unborn children, endorse homosexual union, and ridicule the nuclear family, conservative behavior, Christianity, and anything that stands in the path of “progress”. God help us as we, who have forgotten our God, face national wrath and judgment as a people who had great light, but hated and rejected the light because our deeds are evil, John 1:5; 3:19-20.
To be Continued.